Lin Dan, Taufik Hidayat to star in Asian Championship

Published Fri, Mar 26 10 05:23 PM

New Delhi, Mar 26 (PTI) World champion Lin Dan and 2004 Olympic gold medallist Taufik Hidayat will be among a host of star shuttlers who would be seen in action in the USD 150,000 Yonex Asian Badminton Championship to be held at the newly-built Siri Fort stadium here from April 12-18. World number six Saina Nehwal will spearhead the Indian challenge in the prestigious tournament, which will also see China''s woman world champion Lu Lan, Hong Kong''s Zhou Mi, China''s Wang Shixian and Indonesian Maria Kristin Yulianti vying for top honours. "As many as 334 players from 21 nations will compete in the championships that will come to India for the fourth time and to Delhi for the first time after Hyderabad (1976 and 2000) and Kolkata (1983) hosted it," Badminton Association of India president V K Verma said. Verma hoped to see rising star Saina face-off with world champion Lu Lan in the final and arch-rivals Lin and Taufik fight it out in the men''s singles summit clash. "I hope to see Lu Lan and Saina clash in the finals and titans like Taufik and Lin Dan take on each other in the men''s singles summit clash," Verma said. Besides, Taufik and Dan, the men''s singles draw will feature Ponsana Boonsak of Thailand and 2007 Asian Junior Champion Chen Long, while Chetan Anand will lead the Indian campaign. India recently qualified for the Thomas and Uber Cup finals in Malaysia for the first time, which saw the nation being ranked number seven in world team charts. Verma said with India doing well, more international tournaments will be hosted in the country and it will become the new hub of badminton in the world. "We are proud to host the ABC here in Delhi and we are determined to make India the first choice for hosting international tournaments and help Delhi to emerge as the new hub of badminton," he said. "According to a recent survey, India has the second largest population of badminton players. In the last one year we have also proved that we are capable to host international tournaments successfully," he added.

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